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New York Knicks fans celebrate after winning Game 5 of the NBA Finals basketball series against the San Antonio Spurs, Saturday, June 13, 2026, in New York.<\/p>\n
Heather Khalifa\/AP Photo\/Heather Khalifa<\/p>\n
New York Knicks center Karl-Anthony Towns, right, hugs forward Og Anunoby during the after defeating the San Antonio Spurs in Game 5 of the NBA Finals basketball series, Saturday, June 13, 2026, in San Antonio.<\/p>\n
Darren Abate\/AP Photo\/Darren Abate<\/p>\n
The New York Knicks celebrate after defeating the San Antonio Spurs in Game 5 of the NBA Finals basketball series, Saturday, June 13, 2026, in San Antonio.<\/p>\n
Ross D. Franklin\/AP Photo\/Ross D. Franklin<\/p>\n
The New York Knicks celebrate after defeating the San Antonio Spurs in Game 5 of the NBA Finals basketball series, Saturday, June 13, 2026, in San Antonio.<\/p>\n
Ross D. Franklin\/AP Photo\/Ross D. Franklin<\/p>\n
The New York Knicks celebrate after defeating the San Antonio Spurs in Game 5 of the NBA Finals basketball series, Saturday, June 13, 2026, in San Antonio.<\/p>\n
Ross D. Franklin\/AP Photo\/Ross D. Franklin<\/p>\n
SAN ANTONIO (AP) \u2014 Knowing New York had waited 53 years to see the Knicks hoist the NBA championship trophy, owner James Dolan didn’t even wait to be handed the 30-pound gold-plated prize.<\/p>\n
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He grabbed it and lifted it skyward with a yell.<\/p>\n
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\u201cI want to say something to New York,\u201d Dolan shouted. \u201cHey New York! I’m sorry it took so long! But here we are, and hopefully it won’t take that long again!\u201d<\/p>\n
The New York Knicks are champions of the NBA for the first time since 1973, beating the San Antonio Spurs in five games for this title.<\/p>\n
Some will say it\u2019s the first \u201cmajor\u201d professional sports championship for New York in more than 14 years; that would be true when counting only Major League Baseball, the NFL, the NHL and the NBA, though it would be wrong to ignore the New York Liberty\u2019s run to the 2024 WNBA title and New York City FC winning the MLS Cup in 2021.<\/p>\n
But as far as the teams that have been part of the city\u2019s fabric for generations and generations, yes, this 14-year drought is finally over. The New York Giants won the Super Bowl in 2012, capping the 2011 season.<\/p>\n
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The Yankees \u2014 the most decorated team in U.S. major pro sports history \u2014 haven\u2019t won a World Series since 2009. The Mets haven\u2019t brought a World Series title to New York since 1986. The Rangers last hoisted that trophy in 1994, the Islanders in 1983. The New York Jets haven\u2019t won a Super Bowl since 1969.<\/p>\n
None of that matters, at least not right now. The Knicks \u2014 who won 13 consecutive games at one point in this playoff run and rallied from 29 points down to win Game 4 of the finals at MSG \u2014 are the toast of the town.<\/p>\n
\u201cOf course I’ve never seen anything like it, because it’d never happened before,\u201d NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said of the Game 4 comeback in an interview on NBA TV on Saturday. \u201cBut it’s been amazing.”<\/p>\n
The Amazin’ Knicks, indeed.<\/p>\n
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A third title, finally<\/p>\n
It took them 80 years \u2014 the Knicks won the first game in NBA history in 1946, three years before what was then the Basketball Association of America started being known as the National Basketball Association \u2014 but the franchise has now become the ninth that can say it has at least three championships.<\/p>\n
Boston has 18, the Los Angeles Lakers have 17, Golden State has seven, Chicago has six, San Antonio has five, and Philadelphia, Detroit and Miami all have three.<\/p>\n
Welcome to the club, New York.<\/p>\n
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\u201cI enjoy watching these guys,” Knicks legend Larry Johnson said. “The Garden is back. … It\u2019s back like when we played and made our little run. The city is behind us.\u201d<\/p>\n
It’s a franchise that has gone through 24 different coaches and more than 400 players since what was, until now, the most recent championship season. Some of the game\u2019s biggest superstars called Madison Square Garden home and couldn\u2019t end the title drought, names like Patrick Ewing, Allan Houston, Bernard King and Carmelo Anthony.<\/p>\n
The Knicks lost a Game 7 in the 1994 finals to Hakeem Olajuwon and Houston, then made a miracle run to the 1999 finals in a shortened season only to lose to San Antonio in five games \u2014 the first of what became five championships for Gregg Popovich and the Spurs.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe didn\u2019t get it done. … I always say the third time is the charm,\u201d former Knicks guard John Starks said.<\/p>\n
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Starks was right. It took the Knicks 27 years to get back to the finals, had the Spurs again standing in their way, and to fully flip the script, it was New York prevailing in five games.<\/p>\n
MSG, a banner is coming<\/p>\n
And finally, the world’s most famous arena \u2014 which has raised banners for Billy Joel, Elton John and Harry Styles more recently than it had hoisted one for the Knicks \u2014 will be adding to the collection swaying from the rafters. If it follows form from the others, the banner will only have the Knicks logo, then 2025-26 World Champions beneath that.<\/p>\n
A simple message. Getting to the place where the Knicks could say those words again, that wasn’t so simple.<\/p>\n
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\u201cThere are a couple of franchises that are pretty iconic just because of the history that they have, the location that they\u2019re in, sometimes even the building that they\u2019re in,\u201d said Knicks coach Mike Brown, who won this title in his first season with the club. “New York is definitely one of the few that you could say that to in all three facets.<\/p>\n
\u201cEverybody goes through their ups and downs. I don\u2019t really think much about the tough times that they had, because everybody has tough times, including individuals. You just want to try the best you can to be a part of whatever you can to bring joy to the city, to the organization. At the end of the day, the chips are going to fall how they fall. I feel blessed, fortunate, lucky, to be a part of what is going on now.\u201d<\/p>\n
It is, to put it mildly, an interesting organization. Dolan \u2014 who rarely speaks publicly \u2014 isn’t afraid of clashes, even including ones with former Knicks greats like Charles Oakley, who was at road games in this title run but has remained away from MSG for years. Leon Rose, the team’s general manager, doesn’t make himself available to reporters either. There is an absolute mystique around the team and how it operates.<\/p>\n
It has not always worked. Over a 25-year stretch that ended with the 2021-22 season \u2014 not that long ago \u2014 the Knicks had the worst record in the NBA. In the four years since, starting with the acquisition of Jalen Brunson from Dallas, the Knicks have the NBA’s fifth-best record.<\/p>\n
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Start spreadin’ the news … <\/p>\n
And this year, as Frank Sinatra said, the Knicks are king of the hill, top of the heap. Some in the fan base grumbled when the Knicks declined to hang an NBA Cup championship banner after beating San Antonio for the in-season tournament title earlier this season. Turns out, the Knicks were just waiting for something better.<\/p>\n
So, the 53-year wait is over. It was a very different league, and a very different game, in 1973.<\/p>\n
There were 17 teams in the NBA that season, barely half of the 30 that there are now. Teams called places Buffalo, Baltimore, Kansas City-Omaha and Seattle home then; the league has expanded many times since, adding 13 teams in nine different states, plus Canada and the District of Columbia.<\/p>\n
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The top salary in the league then was about $380,000, or roughly $2.9 million in today\u2019s dollars. There was no 3-point line then, no multi-billion-dollar television deal, no international players.<\/p>\n
The Knicks flew home on a United Airlines flight from the 1973 title clincher in Inglewood, California, and officials at Kennedy Airport expected what was then called a \u201crabid\u201d crowd of fans present to greet the plane. They braced for \u201chundreds\u201d of people that day.<\/p>\n
This celebration might be a little bigger.<\/p>\n
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By signing up, you agree to our Terms Of Use<\/a> and acknowledge that your information will be used as described in our Privacy Policy<\/a>.<\/p>\n AP Sports Writer Stephen Whyno in New York contributed.<\/p>\n